


Mother and Daughter

by Thunderbird83



Series: The Rhapsody Tour [9]
Category: Queen (Band)
Genre: Evil Mother, F/M, Gunshot Wounds, Out of Body Experiences, Stitches, Surgery, Unplanned Pregnancy, brian worried, massive overdose, roger comatose, unborn daughter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23266741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thunderbird83/pseuds/Thunderbird83
Summary: At a concert back in London, Janet shows up to murder Grace once and for all. Grace gives a coded distress call, all hell breaks loose. Roger and Grace are rushed to the hospital for their injuries leaving Brian and Anita to try to recover themselves and be strong for their friends. Grace goes into surgery; Roger is in intensive care, having received an extreme overdose of drugs.
Relationships: Roger Taylor (Queen)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Rhapsody Tour [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1527800
Kudos: 3





	Mother and Daughter

Chapter 9: Mother and Daughter

“Well congratulations, Roger and Grace,” the ultrasound technician commented. “your daughter is right on track. Seems to be very healthy and hitting all the right milestones on time.” 

Grace, lying on the uncomfortable exam cot, glanced over at the monitor where she could see a little face silhouetted in the dark expanse that was her uterus. Roger was enthralled; he couldn’t stop staring at the monitor either. It finally looked like a real human so she could stop thinking about it as a little tiny fish with feet, she thought, amused. The tech emailed the photos to their cell phones so they could look at them at any time they wanted, Roger helped Grace mop up her big belly from all the gel, gave her a hand up and then they went to rehearsal. 

“Well, how was it?” Adam greeted Grace with a big hug.

“She’s healthy.” she gave him a tired grin. 

“Good for you! Um, how are you doing with all of this?” the singer took her aside while Roger and Brian chatted backstage. 

“The general situation? I’m dealing with it the best that I can,” she sighed. “our concert tonight is wrapping up the USA and UK’s part of the tour then I don’t know if I’ll be able to go to Australia-I think I can but we shall see how my baby cooperates.” 

“You should have pushed her out by then.” Adam encouraged.

“I know but I need to be in a healthy place postpartum. Roger and I need to hire a reputable nanny to take care of her in our absence. I need to heal and be in a healthy place mentally as well. I can’t take a newborn to Sydney but I’d like to.” 

“Why not?”

“She needs all her shots. A baby needs to be about six months for all her shots, Adam,” she groaned in discomfort as Sam nudged her painfully from inside. “at least.” 

“What was that?” he saw her wince. 

“She kicked me. Want to see?” 

“Sure!” Grace removed her shirt, displaying her pregnant belly for all to see. Adam saw a raised indent in her upper right side, touched it, then it disappeared. “It’s like a shark bobbing up and down waiting for a victim!” 

“Telling me!” 

“Roger likes this I bet.” they sat on the drum riser. 

“I wake up all the time with him glued to my belly. He’s really in love with her. Almost as much as me. He keeps telling her I need to push her out so he can give her brothers and sisters.”

“Do you think you two will be married?”

“Nah,” Grace made a disgusted face. “We don’t need anything official. Hell, we’ll already be raising one bastard. What’s a few more?” 

“So you’d be open to having more kids?”

“If my biology permits it then yes.” 

“You’ll be popping out kids left and right like Deacy did. Roger will be knocking you up until just before you go into menopause!” 

“Well, maybe. Deacy had the biggest dick of them all and Freddie was number two in dick size.” 

Adam roared laughing, prompting Grace to start as well amid a blush which sprang up on her cheeks. Sam seemed to want to know what all the giggling was about so she started kicking her mother, making her put a hand to where it hurt the most. 

At the same time, Brian was talking to Roger, who was sitting in a makeup chair. “What’s going on with you, Rog?”

“Nothing. I’m just worried about Grace, that’s all.” 

“What about?” Brian dabbed on some foundation with a sponge. 

“Her mother still hasn’t been found and every day she’s out there she’s concocting a crazy scheme to murder my girlfriend. I’m a little on edge until she’s found and locked up.” 

“Rog, I know from Grace that when they finally meet it will be for the last time. She goes out armed for her own protection at all times. Grace has personally told me that if Janet tries to kill her she will go down fighting and take Janet with her. She doesn’t intend to die-you know how that baby’s counting on her to stay alive. If push comes to shove she will be prepared to kill.” 

“Her apparently religious mother doesn’t see the value in human life.” Roger snorted. 

“She’s part of a cult, we know this. Anyway, Rog, how did you like supper last night?”

“The Italian place? I loved it. We would have stayed longer if Grace hadn’t been so tired.” 

“It’s all right. Anita’s primary objective right now is to keep you two in the public eye so Janet has less of a chance to get at you. She’s being protective.” 

“So that’s what it was. Every other night for the past four days!” Roger let out a half amused chuckle, half irritated. 

“I made her back off a little bit. We’ll have a break. Tomorrow we’ll be throwing a big lunch for all of the crew as a celebration to the end of this part of the tour.” Brian cuffed his friend on the shoulder. 

“Sounds like fun. I just wish Janet was caught.” 

“Don’t think about her tonight, Roger. Let’s just have fun.” 

**

Janet hovered in the backstage area of the venue, the 02 arena, armed with a gun and two syringes filled with sedatives. She saw one person walking to the VIP area, readied one of the syringes and struck, ramming the needle into the neck. Janet, with a malevolent smile on her face, took the stagehand’s black hat, shirt, and access all areas pass. 

As the band played on nearing the encore songs, Janet waited backstage with her gun, twiddling it until she thought of something that she could do that would be more interesting. Creeping up the stairs she went stage left which was where Brian and Grace usually stayed to play their instruments. The guitarist was charging back to stage left behind Adam and Grace was beaming, playing the opening chords for Somebody To Love. 

“That bitch!” she hissed, lurking behind the curtain, taking the gun, then plugging it into the small of Grace’s back. 

The pianist’s reaction was immediate. She sat straight up, tried to catch Roger’s eye but he was too involved in the drums at the moment. Unbeknowst to Janet, along with the code word system Grace had devised with Adam, Brian and Roger, they had also agreed on a musical code. When Grace hit the highest note on the keyboard which was very discernable to every ear it meant she was in trouble. Janet would think it was part of the song-she didn’t know Queen at all. 

Brian walked in front of Grace, looking at her strangely, noticing a very brief moment when she slackened the tempo. She mouthed the code word at him but he didn’t get it, so she smacked the high note like agreed upon. 

The song was done by then, thankfully. Adam had noticed the note and Roger was looking at Grace, alarm in his eyes. She mouthed the word ‘help’ which they all understood. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you and goodnight!” the singer dismissed the crowd which began to filter out right away. “Great show, everyone!” he walked backstage casually. Once he was out of sight he banged the red panic button on the counter near Brian’s Red Special case. 

Brian and Roger held the stage while Janet told Grace to get up. The pianist obeyed, muttering to herself while the deranged mother threw off her black hat, one syringe in her hand. With an air of finality, Grace, eyes wide, looked at both of her friends while her mother plugged the barrel of a gun into the small of her back again.

“So you’re Janet,” Roger kept his voice steady. “you have a great daughter in Grace.” 

“She’s been nothing but a miserable failure!” she shot back. “Refusing to believe in the same things that I do! Pestering her grandmother for no reason! Running away from me!” 

“That’s no grounds for beating her! You abused her and she was right to run away! You want to kill her now-kill two people? There’s no telling how much of that drug in that syringe in your hand you have and whether it will harm her unborn child!” 

“Roger,” Grace finally spoke. “don’t. It goes through one ear and out the other.” 

“Finally speak at last, eh?” Janet taunted. 

“You’ve overlooked one little fact!” Grace whirled on Janet with a swift roundhouse punch to the jaw, stomped on her foot and knocked her hand holding the gun against the floor. The gun went flying, Roger caught it, then Janet was kicked back several feet. “I trained in self defense! It’s harder now with a baby growing inside me but I can still kick ass!” 

Janet got up, a penknife in hand and lunged at her daughter, opening up a long cut on her left forearm. She threw a punch at Grace’s head to knock her down, kicked her knee out from under her, causing her to fall on her side. Janet grabbed a large piece of stage equipment and threw it down on Grace with such force it shattered, throwing glass everywhere. 

Grace cried out in pain while Roger rushed forward, knocking Janet down in an attempt to get her to stop assaulting her daughter, then realized that he had the gun in his hand. “All right, that’s enough. Get off of her and stand away.” he noticed a pool of blood starting to form under his girlfriend’s left side and nodded to Brian who propped her up. 

“What is she to you?” Janet spat out. “Your lover? The mother of your children?” 

“Impossible right now. The baby inside her isn’t mine.” he clenched the gun in his hands. 

“She’s weak, just like her spineless father!” 

“I’m not interested in your family affairs!” Roger shouted her down. “Brian, how is she?” 

“Grace?” Brian clamped a hand over her side to stop the bleeding. She looked dazed and confused, not quite hearing her friend say her name. “It doesn’t look good, Roger. She’s incoherent.” 

“Damnit! She’s in shock.” they heard the cops run in. “Finally!” 

The drummer was momentarily distracted by the chief of police running in, Janet saw an opening and charged at Roger with a knife in her hand. She managed to open up a shallow cut on his chest, ram the syringe into his neck, then she was shot by the police. Roger turned to see Janet fall with blood streaming from a wound in her belly. 

Before the drug took him, he leaned over and declared, “I will piss on your grave, evil witch!” 

Grace stirred feebly as the emergency medical techs ran into the building. “Brian?” 

He watched Roger faint from the drugs then turned his attention back to his injured friend, surprised to find her looking at him. “Grace! You both will be fine.” 

“Hope so. Love you guys...” 

“You can’t think like that, Grace!” her eyes closed, distressing Brian even more. “Grace! Wake up! You both will be all right!” 

“Sir, how many months is she?” the tech put a mask over her mouth and nose to help her breathe. 

“Six.” 

“We’ll take her to the hospital and get her stabilized. Want to ride with her?” out of the corner of his eye he could see Roger being strapped into a gurney. 

“Will he be at the same hospital?”

“Of course, sir.” 

“Then I’ll stay with her.” he swung aboard the ambulance, keeping a hand on Grace’s the entire time. The paramedics performed a quick ultrasound to make sure there was no bleeding or hemorrhage and checked the heart rate. 

“It’s in a little distress but that’s normal.” 

“She is,” Brian corrected him. “it’s a she.” 

“Oh, nice. Well, we need to make sure that she doesn’t go into premature labor from the trauma.” the tech gave her a drug to prevent the uterus from contracting. Brian put his head in his hand for a long moment as Anita texted him. 

Grace was attacked and so was Roger. In ambulance with Grace-it’s pretty bad right now. Will update soon, love Bri. He clicked send. Already the news junkets were in a frenzy over the attack and now that Roger was involved sent the media into a right tizzy. When the ambulances were unloaded, Brian was informed that Roger had been given a massive overdose of sedatives. His cut had been stitched up already and he was deeply unconscious. 

“So what we need to do with Mr. Taylor is intubate him and monitor his vital signs until he rouses. At this point that will be some time tomorrow.” the doctor told him. “As for Ms. Mitchell we just got her results back from x-ray and she’s got a pneumothorax along with some hemorrhaging. I’ve got our best surgeon on the job and we will get her bleeding under control and stitch up the cut she’s got, and we need to put a chest tube in.” 

“X-ray in her condition?” 

“We kept a lead apron over her belly, Mr. May. That shielded the baby from the rays.” the doctor gave him a reassuring smile. “Right now she’s being prepped for surgery.” 

“How long? Do you know?” 

“I’m sorry, I don’t.” 

**

Two hours later Brian was in a private waiting room when the door opened up and a familiar face came into view. “Brian!” 

“Anita!” they kissed as she threw down a small backpack. “What’s this, love?”

“Change of clothes-for both of us, dearie,” she sat down beside him. “I never got a reply then got worried. I love them both too and I know you wouldn’t tell me without checking first. I guessed she’d be in surgery. Where’s Roger?” 

“He’s in special care at the moment in the other side of the hospital. Janet gave him a massive overdose of drugs. They put him on a ventilator as apparently those drugs suppress lung function and he’s very deeply out of it. He’s being carefully monitored. Grace will be in surgery for awhile yet. The baby’s fine of course. They’ve got her on a drug that will prevent premature labor.”

“Good, I guess. All we do now is wait.” she curled up next to him, draping his arm over her shoulder. 

“All we can do now,” he agreed, kissing the top of her head fondly. “and pray.” 

**

“HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!” Grace stirred herself to answer the call. She opened up her eyes to see Freddie standing next to her looking alarmed. 

“Someone over there is looking for some assistance.” he pointed.

“Aren’t you going to help me, Freddie?”

“No; I’m here for you only. I don’t want to share you. Besides it sounds like this is something up your alley and not mine. A lost soul stuck in limbo.” Freddie wished her luck and disappeared. 

A hot and choking smoky atmosphere entered Grace’s senses. She looked down to discover her bump was gone then she knew what was going on with her. It was an out of body experience; she’d heard of them but never had one before now. A tall gentleman was pounding on a door all dressed in black with black framed glasses and close cropped brown hair. 

“HELP!” he roared before getting choked off by the thick smoke. 

“This isn’t going to end well,” Grace thought. “I’m here!” she shouted, taking the guy’s hand and turning him so he faced her. 

“What’s going on?”bewildered he stared. 

“What’s your name?”

“Joe,” bright blue eyes grew dimmer with the smoke. “how did you get in here?”

“No time for that now! Take my hand.” she directed. Joe looked at her with his mouth slightly agape; Grace noticed his teeth were slightly crooked. Grabbing his hand with a grunt of frustration she thought of a grassy meadow and then they were there. 

“How did you do that?” he whirled on her with a startled look. 

“Never mind that now, Joe. What’s the last thing you remember happening?” 

“I was trapped in a burning house and that’s it.”

“Not much to work with. Long story short; I’m a spirit sensitive and I picked up on you because of your incessant yelling! I guess even on the point of death I still can’t get a break! Well, I’m not dead; I’m in serious condition but..” 

“Wait a minute, I can’t process this.” Joe interrupted, his hands on the sides of his head for a moment. “You say you’re a spirit sensitive so you could hear me?”

“Yes. I’m also pregnant in real life but I’m not appearing that way here so I can conclude that my daughter needs to be born so her spiritual eyes can be open too.” 

“Spiritual eyes? You got to be kidding me!” Joe sank to his knees on the grass. “I got a spirit crank who can hear me after God only knows how long I’ve been yelling for help!” 

“Watch it, buster! OK, I’ll put aside my own trouble for you. What’s your full name?”

“Joe Brian McDonnell. I was in a burning house and they were trying to get to me.” 

“How old are you?”

“Early thirties, why?”

“You look so young. Anyway I remember reading about you,” Grace sat down next to Joe, noting while he was dressed all in navy blue she was wearing a pink camisole top with a long flowing broomstick skirt in light blue patterned with flowers and butterflies. “you died in a house fire a year ago.” 

“I died?”

“You did,” she inclined her head. “I’m so sorry, Joe.” 

Tears sprouted from his eyes. Grace felt pity for the poor guy and opened up her arms to him. He gratefully accepted the embrace, knowing that the dead had to grieve too. The young man cried hard at first then gradually tapered it down as he let it all sink in. 

“It’s all right, hon. Just let it out,” she soothed him. “unfortunately you didn’t make it and they tried all that they could to bring you back.” 

“I don’t want to leave my family!” he sobbed. 

“You don’t have to. You can always come back to visit but they won’t know you’re there, Joe. However you can visit them in their dreams.” 

“Why am I visible to you?” Joe raised his head to meet Grace’s eyes. 

“I’m one of the gifted. I can sense you or in this case I heard you screaming for help. You’ve been locked in limbo for a year spinning your wheels and I was able to hear you.” 

“I died at the hospital so why are you there?” suddenly wary he gave her a suspicious look. 

Grace laughed, startling him. “I was attacked! My asshole mother hunted me down and tried to kill me and my unborn child. I was taken to the same hospital you were and call it fate or whatever I could hear you perfectly.”

“Oh. So how do I do a visit on anyone that I want?” 

“Just think of their face and it will take you there. I’ll show you me at the moment,” they were transported to an operating room where a chest tube had been inserted into Grace’s left lung cavity. Her bump rose up in front of her as a technician was doing an ultrasound. “she’ll be fine.” 

“Your daughter?”

“Yep. Let me show you something else,” Liz brought him to a grave. “it’s you.” 

“Oh, god,” he moaned, hiding his face in her shoulder at first. The tombstone was of rose granite with his full name engraved on it, the dates of birth and death, and featured a laser etched picture of a man walking through an arch. “it’s beautiful.” 

“You have nothing to be afraid of now. You can stay with your family or go; you can cross over but always come back in visitation. There are no limits for you. If you want to talk you can come to me. People with my gift are very rare just so you know. I have a friend who’s in visitation much like you seem to want to be.” 

“Who?”

“Freddie Mercury.” 

“No way!” Grace laughed. 

“In my spirit sensitivity he was attracted to me. Now we talk whenever we want. I will gladly do the same to you. You don’t have to cut yourself off from the living if you don’t want to.” she rubbed his shoulder comfortingly. 

Joe turned and hugged her hard, fresh tears were dampening his cheeks. “Thank you. I don’t think I’m ready to leave my family just yet. Thank you for getting me out of purgatory, Grace. I’m glad I got the truth at last.” 

“Just remember; nobody will forget you,” she smiled, putting her hands on his shoulders as he held her by the waist. “Isaiah 49:15.” 

“What?”

“It’s on the other side of your grave marker here. A mother will never forget her son. Moms are strong women.” 

“My mom always was.” Grace felt a pull on her psyche. 

“I think it’s time for me to go back.” 

“Thank you, Grace,” Joe kissed her full on the lips. “I will be with you. Go back to those who need you.” 

Grace felt weak as the scene with Joe faded around her. She sank down into a stupor as the scene melted down then reformed to show her a post anesthesia care unit. The musician’s spiritual eyes were dulling due to the effect of the drugs she was on but she dreamed that she was at first sleeping in Freddie’s arms then Joe’s arms. She was able to draw strength from her invisible companions and let herself black out completely; sleeping quietly in darkness. 

**

“Mr. May, Ms. Dobson?” the doctor knocked on the small private waiting room door. Brian and Anita were sleeping on the couch together. 

“Hey there,” they were gently shaken awake. “Ms. Mitchell is in recovery now. We stopped all the bleeding, put in a chest tube to allow her collapsed lung to re expand. Her baby is absolutely fine, doing quite well. She should be awake in a few hours.” 

“What about Roger?” 

“He’s doing pretty well too. We’ve been keeping a careful eye on him, just letting the drugs run their course so I have every reason to believe that the worst is over. We have security standing watch on both of them for tonight; the elder Ms. Mitchell was taken here and in intensive care as well. She won’t be doing anything really soon but we’ve got every precaution taken.” 

“That evil witch is still alive?” Brian growled. “Does someone have to go out and shoot her?” 

“Brian, don’t!” Anita grabbed his arm. 

“That cussed old witch nearly killed Grace and her baby!” the guitarist was beside himself. “What is it going to take to get Grace to have a normal life? I don’t want her evil mother to have another go at her!” 

Instead of reacting with shock the doctor gave a little grin. “I’m very aware of the situation, Mr. May, and I share your disgust. Ms. Mitchell is the spawn of the devil it seems and Grace is persecuted endlessly.” 

“So what is it going to take?” Brian wondered.


End file.
